User interactive display-based systems are becoming popular for enabling a user to select commands for controlling the operation of a system. In these display-based systems, the number of command items (such as telephone numbers, names, or computer commands) available on a display for selection by the user is limited, at any given time, by the finite size of the display. Since the number of command items available for execution is generally much larger than the number that can be simultaneously accommodated by the display, it is desirable that the items actually displayed be those most likely to be selected, at the given time, by the user. Present systems do not offer such a capability.
Two methods exist today for the selection of items for display. One method, used today in most repertory dialers, is to have the user explicitly select, or program, the normally displayed command items. Another method, used in some computer systems, is to store and optionally display a history of past commands, and allow the user to explicitly search this history for command items to be re-executed. Each of the above methods requires that the user perform some task, either programming the repertory or searching through a command history, in addition to the actual activation of the command item. User surveys indicate that many users would prefer not to have to perform such programming or searching tasks.